Recently, I received a hefty package in my mailbox (842 pages / 3.2 pounds). Inside, was a copy of The Handbook of Service Innovation, a new book of scholarly articles on emerging concepts, theories, and service applications to which I contributed a chapter. The book was released in the Spring; however, until I received the hardcopy in the mail, the publication never seemed real. With the weight of the book in my hands, so was the weight on my conscience that I had forgotten to post anything about the publication.

My chapter, the Architecture of Service Innovation, outlines 5 service models using Architectural building types as examples. By cross pollinating ideas from one discipline to another, one can better understand abstract service concepts through our known experiences engaging physical forms. The 5 models are detailed to provide a process to analyze, structure and design services.

Below is the abstract for the chapter:

Innovation is about introducing something new. It occurs when we see the possibilities and opportunities others are missing. Sometimes, in order to see and understand our world better, we have to remove ourselves from a direct relationship with the subject we are observing and instead rely upon abstractions for needed distance, a new perspective and objectivity. For this study, an ARCHITECTURAL lens is applied to the field of Service Design to provide a new perspective on the subject and create the needed conditions for innovation. First, products and services are defined and architecture is positioned as a hybrid field with qualities of both. Next, architectural lessons from the Greeks and Romans are related to service design to provide criteria for approaching and assessing services. Finally, five architectural typologies are analyzed and used as service design models. These typologies offer insights and considerations not found in current service design methodologies, ideally providing the newness needed to foster innovation.

The 5 service models are:

The Primacy of Effect and Experience: this model is based upon the Baroque period and prioritizes user experience. As a model for service, the Baroque period introduces concepts of theatricality, fantasy and illusion over reality. It also emphasizes the integration of all of the components into a unified concept and coordinated whole. Building: Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, Rome, Francesco Borromini (1642-1660).

The Fetish of structure/process/systems: this model is based upon high technology architecture and an emphasis on systems and the aesthetics of performance. As a service model, the mechanics of the service are exposed not in their true form but in an idealized form. This is a hyper-aestheticized version of systems as spectacle. Building: Pompidou Center, Paris, Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano (1972-1976).

The Primacy of Power and Sequence: this model explores the interconnected spatial sequence of rooms arranged enfilade. As a service model it explores, power,control and belonging. Building: Palace of Versailles.

Dynamic Experience: this model is the antithesis of the prescribed sequence, axial organization and power structure of an enfilade and represents a modernist interpretation of space. A dynamic spatial experience removes strictly defined boundaries in favor of blurred boundaries, intersections, choice, and multiple entry and exit points. Building: Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona, Mies van der Rohe (1928-1929).

Structure and Skin: this model focuses on the separation between structure and skin. From a service perspective, this model separates the components of the service that are fixed from those that are flexible, allowing for modular components that can be changed with minimal disruption. Building: steel framed skyscrapers.

Like my own need to have the book in my hands to fully appreciate its publication, the purpose of using buildings as models for services is to make intangible concepts and experiences more real.

If you are interested in learning more about these models and how to apply them, the chapter is available for purchase through Springer's site. The book is available through Amazon and other online retailers. My goal was to provide ideas that can be applied by professionals to rethink services and how they are designed and experienced. It would be great to hear from you about how these models help you understand services better and examples you think fit each of the models.

In upcoming posts, I will highlight summaries of each of the models and their applications.

As a business designer, technologist and entrepreneur (who also happens to be the co-founder of a luxury brand of fine jewelry), I was asked by Smartwork Media's InDesign Magazine, one of the premier jewelry retail publications, to write about what I would do if I owned a jewelry store. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the retail sector was hit hard and needed to question its fundamental tenets. Jewelry stores in particular were challenged and it was an opportunity to rethink the traditional retail paradigms.

Below is the full text and a link to the article as it appeared in the March/April 2013 issue.

InDesign Magazine March/April 2013

I am an architect and I love well-designed products. I am also a professor of information systems and I am fascinated by technology’s potential to create new opportunities. I often wonder why these worlds, physical and virtual, are often in opposition. Retail is one of the fiercest battlegrounds, and jewelry stores are no exception.

Standard retail models developed for a physical world are less viable in today’s crowded, competitive, digital landscape. Similarly, as online shopping matures, websites with shopping carts are no longer enough to compete. Future success requires breaking down barriers to create integrated customer experiences. If I owned a jewelry store, I would seek a new paradigm for selling goods. Consider this less of a prescription and more of a provocation. I want to make you think.

The 3 typical physical world models are a store, shop and gallery. Exploring their origins reveals their shortcomings. Merriam-Webster defines a store as “a business establishment where usually diversified goods are kept for retail sale”. Its origins are in accumulating large quantities of goods for future use. It is built around the security of knowing a wide array of items will be available when needed. The problem here for smaller independents is they cannot compete with large internet retailers. A simple search for earrings on Amazon yields 834,201 results. Even if only 1/1000th of these is relevant, you still have 834 earrings from which to choose – a quantity beyond most store inventories.

Standard retail models developed for a physical world are less viable in today’s crowded, competitive, digital landscape.

The shop also presents limitations. Defined as “a handicraft establishment” and “a small retail establishment or a department … offering a specified line of goods or services,” its roots are in making and providing more focused offerings. So far, so good. However, shops spawned the shopper, a challenging consumer. Shopping, “to hunt through a market in search of the best buy,” introduces competition and emphasizes price. The shopper wants value and online shopping dramatically shifted power to this consumer and placed immense pressure on retailers to conform. The internet is the great pricing equalizer. Can you compete with the volume pricing and transparency of Blue Nile? Are you prepared to justify your pricing structure against all pricing available online? Furthermore, online shopping raised the shopper’s expectations by providing a 24/7 marketplace where your competitors are no longer measured in distance but clicks.

The gallery confronts us with another set of limitations. Originally “a promenade, a long and narrow passage, or corridor,” artwork provided interest or entertainment as one traversed this space. But art display emphasizes appreciation and seeing over buying. Unfortunately, many brick-and-mortar stores today have been reduced to galleries for viewing products. Welcome to “showrooming”. They bear the costs of space, staff and inventory only to have the shopper buy the merchandise online.

So where is the opportunity?

First, shift your business model away from being product-centric and start selling a customer experience. Products alone reduce transactions to how many, how much, and how fast – arenas in which most cannot compete. An experience is about the intangibles you cannot quantify but your customer needs and wants. These are more participatory interactions that build relationships and involve emotional investment. Cire Trudon, France’s oldest candlemaker, understands experience. Their executive director stated in the Wall Street Journal, “Cire Trudon is about storytelling…” With most of their candles hovering around $100 and prices of $450 not unusual, stories command a price far greater than a candle. Begin by defining what you actually sell; then construct your experience around it.

Next, design your experience to be relevant to your customer. My daughters send emails or text messages to me even when we are in the same room. They do not distinguish between real time and online communication - they simply communicate. They choose the channel best suited to the task. Stop thinking in terms of brick-and-mortar OR online models and create a new hybrid model of real AND virtual touchpoints. Engage your customer through multiple channels. The world is seamlessly integrating technology and your jewelry store should too. True hybrid models build on the strengths of both worlds. Now think about what you can do to make that happen.